Today's Sports

Special to the Citizen
Bronson Speedway continued the rebuilding process of racing competition this past Saturday night, as racing families, crews, friends, fans and diverse racing divisions slowly come home to the sacred asphalt known as the high banks of Bronson.

Mark Marazzo is heading up a group of players trying to rebuild the Levy County Raiders' semiprofessional football team. The team was kicked out of its league last season after an incident between then-coach Ron Fisher and game officials at a game in Williston. One official said he planned to press charges on Fisher but never did.

Bronson rallied from two matches down to beat Bell 3-2 in varsity volleyball action on Thursday.

The Lady Eagles were led by Melissa Nutt. She took over as server with her team trailing 14-12 in the third match and reeled off 13 consecutive points to send her team into celebration mode. Nutt then served to start the fourth match and had Bronson up 11-1 before she was done. Bronson won the fourth and then the tiebreaker, 15-8, to stay unbeaten at 4-0 on the season.

Chiefland’s season-opening loss vs. Lecanto looked a lot better on film than it did live. At least, Indians coach Jim O’Neal had more positives to point out after watching highlights of Friday’s 17-0 setback against the 6A Panthers in Wayne Pridgeon Stadium.

CHIEFLAND -- Hundreds of Chiefland fans headed home Friday night not knowing the name of the Lecanto player that beat their Indians 17-0. Wayne Pridgeon Stadium public address announcer Newcombe Wasson wasn’t given a complete Panthers roster prior to kickoff, so the crowd simply heard “No. 6” repeatedly throughout the season opener for both teams.

Special to the Citizen
Action is the attraction at Bronson Speedway and the newly-reopened track will be loaded with action on Saturday with the return of "Figure Eight Racing" to the track. It features eight gars challenging the high banks and turning left and right to create crossing traffic at the X in the middle of the field. A three-race series is planned with two other races on the schedule in October.

About 70 football players and 50 cheerleaders have signed up to particpate in the Chiefland Area Athletic Association’s league this fall. The season begins at 8:30 a.m. in Cross City.

Three teams have been practicing four times a week at Strickland Park. There are 18 players signed up for the 6-8-year-old team, 26 on the 9-10 year-old team and 24 on the 11-12 year-old team, according to CAAA football commissioner Billy Hinote.

Don’t expect Chiefland’s football team to attack Friday’s home scrimmage against Lakeland Victory Christian at 7:30 p.m. like a typical scrimmage. The Indians certainly will be playing to win, something they haven’t done since 2009 after a winless 2010.

Victory Christian coach Jeff Schaum cracked a smile at one of his assistants as he broke a postgame huddle following a 14-7 win against Chiefland Friday.

Schaum's smile was more of a sigh of relief after his team had to rally from a late deficit to pull out a tough road victory. A pair of touchdowns by senior speedster Ricky Pierre, including the game winner midway through the fourth quarter, was the difference.